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                  <p class="p_Heading1"><span class="f_Heading1">Collaboration</span></p>



  
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                <p class="p_TextIndentedL2"><img src="d_collaboration.png" width="132" height="89" border="0" alt="d_Collaboration"></p>
<p class="p_BodyText"><span class="f_BodyText">A </span><span class="f_BodyText" style="font-style: italic;">Collaboration</span><span class="f_BodyText"> defines a set of cooperating roles and their connectors. These are used to collectively illustrate a specific functionality, in a <a href="compositestructurediagram.htm">Composite Structure diagram</a>. A Collaboration should specify only the roles and attributes required to accomplish a specific task or function. Although in practice a behavior and its roles could involve many tangential attributes and properties, isolating the primary roles and their requisites simplifies and clarifies the behavior, as well as providing for reuse. A Collaboration often implements a pattern to apply to various situations.</span></p>
<p class="p_BodyText"><span class="f_BodyText">The following example illustrates an</span><span class="f_BodyText" style="font-style: italic;"> Install</span><span class="f_BodyText"> Collaboration, with three roles (<a href="object.htm">Objects</a>) connected as shown. The process for this Collaboration can be demonstrated by attaching an Interaction diagram (<a href="denotelifecycleofanelement.htm">Sequence</a>, <a href="timingdiagram.htm">Timing</a>, <a href="communicationdiagram.htm">Communication</a> or <a href="interactionoverviewdiagram.htm">Interaction Overview</a>).</span></p>
<p class="p_TextIndentedL2"><img src="collaboration%20arrangement.png" width="396" height="282" border="0" alt="Collaboration Arrangement"></p>
<p class="p_BodyText"><span class="f_BodyText">To understand referencing a Collaboration in a specific situation, see the </span><span class="f_BodyText" style="font-style: italic;"><a href="colloccurrence.htm">Collaboration Occurrence</a></span><span class="f_BodyText"> topic.</span></p>
<p class="p_BodyText"><span class="f_BodyText">Enterprise Architect supports a stereotyped Collaboration to represent a <a href="business_interaction.htm">Business Use Case Realization</a> in business modeling.</span></p>
<p class="p_SubHeadingL1"><span class="f_SubHeadingL1">Toolbox Icon</span></p>
<p class="p_TextIndentedL2"><img src="e_collaboration.png" width="167" height="23" border="0" alt="e_Collaboration"></p>
<p class="p_SubHeadingL1"><span class="f_SubHeadingL1">OMG UML Specification</span></p>
<p class="p_BodyText"><span class="f_BodyText">The OMG UML specification (</span><span class="f_BodyText" style="font-style: italic;">UML Superstructure Specification, v2.1.1, p. 171</span><span class="f_BodyText">) states:</span></p>
<p class="p_OMGText"><span class="f_OMGText">A collaboration describes a structure of collaborating elements (roles), each performing a specialized function, which collectively accomplish some desired functionality. Its primary purpose is to explain how a system works and, therefore, it typically only incorporates those aspects of reality that are deemed relevant to the explanation.</span></p>




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